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Can Canada Avoid the Pitfalls that have Derailed Similar Shared Services Initiatives in Governments Around the World?

Doug Hadden, VP Products at FreeBalance Presents “Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity” at the Financial Management Institute (FMI) of Canada Professional Development Week 2011

Ottawa, Canada (November 22, 2011) – FreeBalance, a global Government Resource Planning (GRP) software company, will be presenting at the FMI of Canada Professional Development (PD) Week. The annual conference takes place this year at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa, Canada from November 22 to 25, 2011. Doug Hadden, VP Products at FreeBalance will host an interactive session titled “Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity.” This session will explore the mandate of shared services to streamline information technology costs and provide hundreds of millions of dollars in savings on an annual basis. Many experts suggest that traditional technology for public financial management will take many years to provide any savings, if at all. Yet, saving and agility forms the mission of Shared Services Canada. The “Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity” presentation details a risk-based approach to shared services that provides an acceleration of speed to savings.

FreeBalance presentation: Seizing the Shared Services Opportunity: Speed to savings
View more presentations from FreeBalance

The session will be held from 3:00 – 4:00 pm, Tuesday November 22, 2011 in room 211 at the Ottawa Convention Centre. Many of the subjects to be discussed are described on the FreeBalance Sustainability Blog. In addition, members of the FreeBalance team will be available during the conference to discuss the new FreeBalance Shared Services ROI & TCO tool and how it will provide valuable insight for Government of Canada decision makers.

"Many governments have implemented hosted shared services to support more efficient and effective service delivery," said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO of FreeBalance. “Yet, hosted shared services for financial and human resources in government have had disappointing results. Expected savings have not often materialized. The FreeBalance Accountability Suite Version 7 has been designed specifically to overcome government shared services challenges. This innovative technology covers the entire budget cycle including budget preparation, budget execution and civil service management.”

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite Version 7 was designed specifically to support hosted shared services in government. The FreeBalance approach differs from traditional methods of deploying finance and human resources software in the following ways:

  • Service configuration approach eliminates the burden for government organizations to customize software to meet unique needs.
  • Multiple configurations operating in the same data centre enables government organizations to migrate to standard processes over time and supports unique configurations where necessary because of legal mandate.
  • Modern web-based technology, rather than web-enabled, optimizes performance and reduces data centre size providing green benefits.
  • Component-based Service-Oriented Architecture enables granular integration with software in use by government organizations.

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is web-based and has been optimized for rapid government deployment, operational effectiveness and performance. FreeBalance technology supports Web Services standards that enable departments and agencies to integrate with existing ERP, HR, and other government information systems.

The FreeBalance Accountability Suite is one of the most widely deployed financial management systems inside the Government of Canada. More than 50 government departments and agencies use FreeBalance software for enhanced public financial management.

About the Financial Management Institute of Canada
The Financial Management Institute of Canada (fmi*igf) is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit volunteer association, founded in 1962. What started out as a small group of senior federal government accountants meeting around a lunch table to discuss issues of financial management and the role of financial advisors within government has grown to thousands of members, both within and outside the public sector, all working to improve the financial management of all levels of government across Canada. For more information, visit www.fmi.ca.

About Doug Hadden
Doug Hadden is an industry veteran with an extensive experience in enterprise technologies. Hadden has more than 20 years of management, sales, marketing and product management experience at several industry-leading public and private companies, including Standard Register, Delano Technology, Platform Computing, Hummingbird, and Olivetti. Hadden is a recognized expert in strategic planning and technology in government.

As VP Products at FreeBalance, Hadden is responsible for all aspects of global marketing, business development and product management. Hadden is also the Chief Customer Advocate responsible for aligning FreeBalance activities with customer priorities. He holds a BA Honours degree in Political Science from Carleton University.

About FreeBalance
FreeBalance helps governments around the world leverage robust Government Resource Planning (GRP) technology to accelerate country growth. FreeBalance software solutions for public financial and human resource management support reform and modernization to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Good governance is required to improve development results. FreeBalance solutions are active in 19 countries managing more than a quarter trillion ($US) in annual budgets worldwide. For more information, visit www.freebalance.com.

 

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